Browsing Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) by Title
Now showing items 66-85 of 86
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Spatial and temporal patterns of vegetation- climate interactions
In this thesis, I tried to understand the patterns and processes of vegetation trends at different spatial scales and resolution. The spatial variability in vegetation trends was related to inter and intra-annual changes ... -
Spatial Variation In Interactions Of The Semi-Myrmecophyte Humboldtia Brunonis (Fabaceae) With Ants And Other Invertebrates
(2010-06-01)Despite a long history of investigations on protective ant-plant interactions, since the late 19century (Thomas Belt 1874), a comprehensive quantitative understanding of the adaptations that facilitate these associations ... -
Species Ranges, Richness and Replacement of Trees in the Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghats
(2018-05-14)It has been more than two centuries since the latitudinal pattern of increase in taxonomic richness from poles to equator was first documented. After two centuries of research, and with more than two dozen hypotheses ... -
Stress Physiology of Free-ranging Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) : Influence of Ecological and Anthropogenic Stressors
(2018-07-09)Various ecological and human-induced disturbances play an important role in defining the health of an animal. To cope up with such threats or challenges to its homeostasis, an animal responds by secreting stress hormones ... -
Structure and Dynamics of a Tropical Dry Forest Plant Community
This thesis is spurred by the overarching question “why is a plant where it is in space and time?”, which, when asked in different global communities over the last century or so, has contributed to the development of general ... -
The Structure And Function Of The Vocal Repertoire Of The Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) : Insights Into Avian Vocal Mimicry
(2017-07-12)Sound is used as a medium for communication by taxa as varied as insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. In some birds like the suboscines, song is genetically encoded, whereas in parrots, hummingbirds and oscines, ... -
Studies On Endocrine And Behavioral Assessment Of Reproductive Status In Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus)
(2013-01-16)The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), a charismatic ‘flagship species’, is threatened by extinction in the wild, and the development of self-sustainable captive populations is a key conservation challenge. A third of the ... -
Systematics And Biogeography Of Scolopendrids Of The Western Ghats, India
(2013-06-25)In this thesis, the biogeography of the centipede family Scolopendridae of the Western Ghats (WG)was studied. First, a novel limited sampling approach to identify putative Gondwanan origin wherein sampling of was confined ... -
Systematics and Comparative Biogeography of Vine Snakes (Genus: Ahaetulla, Family: Colubridae) and Pit vipers (Genus: Trimeresurus, Family: Viperidae) in Peninsular India
The Indian subcontinent is a considered a mega biodiverse region with representative regions belonging to three of the 35 global biodiversity hotspots, including the Western Ghats in Peninsular India and the Eastern ... -
Systematics and Diversification in the Indian Radiation of Hemidactylus Geckos
Understanding the patterns and processes generating biodiversity is fundamental to ecology and evolutionary biology, and studying diversification can give us key insights into this process. In my thesis, I investigate ... -
Systematics, Phylogeny And Acoustic Evolution In Field Crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Gryllinae)
(2018-03-06)Since several decades, field crickets of the subfamily Gryllinae under order Orthoptera have been used as a model group by researchers working in the field of neuroethology, behavioural ecology and bioacoustics. Subfamily ... -
Territorial and mating strategies of males in a lekking population of blackbuck Antilope cervicapra
Territoriality associated with lek-mating systems is unique in that males defend small, heavily clustered territories that lack resources usually thought to attract females, such as food and water. Females visit these male ... -
Through the looking glass: Phoresy as seen in the light of mutualism
Phoresy is the dispersal of small organisms on larger ones to move out of an unfavourable habitat. Although these interactions are transient, they can form tight links with mutualistic interactions if the phoretic organisms ... -
Trade-offs And Social Behaviour In The Cellular Slime Moulds
(2014-08-01)By combining laboratory experiments with field work, I have looked at the following aspects of cellular slime mould (CSM) biology: (a) the genetic structure of social groups (fruiting bodies) in the wild and its relation ... -
Tree Diameter Growth : Variations And Demographic Niches In A Tropical Dry Forest Of Southern India
(2009-08-03)Tree growth influences forest community dynamics and responses to environmental variations, but currently is not well understood. Tree growth in highly diverse wet tropical forests have been well studied and characterised ... -
Understanding Patterns of Bird Species Distribution in the Western Ghats
(2018-06-23)Macroecology is the study of relationships between organisms and the environment at large spatial and temporal scales. This field of research examines patterns in species abundance, distribution and diversity. Understanding ... -
Understanding Rules of Assembly and Species Interactions in Mixed-species Bird Flocks
In mixed-species bird flocks (flocks hereafter), participants vary in their degree of similarity with each other. Flock participants can gain group size (supplementary) benefits by choosing similar flock partners, or ... -
Understanding the origins and diversification of Indian blindsnakes
Much of systematics done in the past was based on morphological data. One of the drawbacks of using morphological data is that in groups with conserved morphology, the diversity is often underestimated and relationships ... -
Urbanisation and Shifting Phenotypes Behavioural, Physiological and Cognitive Strategies of the Indian Rock Agama Psammophilus Dorsalis
(2018-07-09)Humans directly or indirectly cause changes in the environment, and urbanisation is currently one of the most important threats to biodiversity. Urbanisation exposes organisms to novel pressures that are drastically different ...